Paperboy
A Dysfunctional Novel
by Bob Thurber

Fiction · Paperback · 262 pages
ISBN 978-1-934081-31-0 · Out of Print

Click on cover image to see full-size version

"I think my sister might be a lunatic. My mother too, probably. I'm not sure about me yet."

It's 1969 and the entire nation is waiting for the United States to win the space race and put the first man on the moon. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Jack Fisher--malnourished and battered, abandoned by his father, neglected by his mother, manipulated by his older sister, harangued by his boss, and shortchanged by customers--is delivering newspapers in downtown Pawtucket and trying to keep his family from self-destructing completely.

As the whole world holds its breath to see what will become of the Apollo 11 astronauts, Jack clings to his daily mantra, "Things will get better." But in this poignant debut novel by award-winning short story writer Bob Thurber, things do not get better; they get drastically worse, at space-age speed.

"Bob Thurber is a masterful wordsmith, driving you into the undiscovered corners of the heart with insight and courage." - Susan Henderson, author of Up from the Blue

Paperboy is not a book, it's a state of mind. Gritty, visceral, desperately urgent, and begging to be read, it is a novel that perfectly captures a dangerous and uncertain zeitgeist, the no man's land that was really the no boy's land of 1969." - Vincent Carrella, author of The Serpent Box

Click here to read a review of Paperboy at the Three Guys One Book blog.

Click here to read an interview with Bob Thurber at the Mourning Goats blog.

Click here to read an extract from Paperboy.



Bob Thurber is a self-taught writer who practiced writing every day for twenty years before submitting his work to publications. He currently has three hundred publishing credits and has seen his work included in more than twenty anthologies. Over the past few years his short fiction has received numerous awards and citations, among them The Barry Hannah Fiction Prize and The Meridian Editors' Prize. He lives in Massachusetts. His website can be found at www.bobthurber.net.

Current Releases


Corpora Delicti
by Manna Francis


Blood & Circuses
by Manna Francis


For Certain Values of Family
by Manna Francis


First Against the Wall
by Manna Francis


Quis Custodiet
by Manna Francis


Control
by Manna Francis


Games & Players
by Manna Francis


Quid Pro Quo
by Manna Francis


Mind Fuck
by Manna Francis


Mouth of the Lion
by Lily Richards

Out of Print


The Un-familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods
by Lynne Hinkey


Single Stroke Seven
by Lavinia Ludlow


alt.punk
by Lavinia Ludlow


The Rage of Achilles
by Terence Hawkins


Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons
by Lynne Hinkey


The Half-Life of Home
by Dale Neal


Marina Melee
by Lynne Hinkey


Enter Oblivion
by C.M. Harris


Pacific Offering
by Tom Mahony


Black Crow White Lie
by Candi Sary


Gospel Hollow
by Jesse Jordan


Fame & Madness in America
by Garrett Socol


Flooding Granite
by Tom Mahony


Cemetery Bird
by Bridget Bufford


Lambs of Men
by Charles Dodd White


'Nada
by Daniel Boyd


The Legacy
by John Russo


Truth or Something Like It
by Curtis Smith


Paperboy
by Bob Thurber


Imperfect Solitude
by Tom Mahony


The Gravedigger
by Ilan Herman


Hoosier Life & Casualty
by Ian Woollen


Kelland
by Paul G. Bens Jr.


Seneca Wood
by Gary Clites


Silly Little Rich Girl
by Jimmy Gleacher


The Life Plan
by Sybil Baker


And Now for a Story...
edited by Lily Richards


Rock Dance
by Jack Ballard Jr.


Sound + Noise
by Curtis Smith


End Credits
by A. F. Rützy


Without Wax
A Documentary Novel
by William Walsh


The Tea House
by Paul Elwork


Motor City Blues
by Peter Ohren


Adagio
by Chris Owen